


wouldn't it be lovely

by darlingholocene



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Children, Childhood Friends, First Crush, Gen, Hiroko and Victor bonding, Hiroko being amazing, M/M, New Year's Fluff, Pancakes, Puppy Love, Time Skips, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Victor is a lost boy and Hiroko basically adopts him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-28 00:12:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13259526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingholocene/pseuds/darlingholocene
Summary: The first time Yakov Feltsman knocks on Hiroko Katsuki’s door, Victor just a slip of a boy with sad, blue eyes hiding behind him, is on a very cold early morning, on New Year’s Day.





	wouldn't it be lovely

**Author's Note:**

> A small, fluffy New Year's Fic :)

The first time Yakov Feltsman knocks on Hiroko Katsuki’s door, Victor just a slip of a boy with sad, blue eyes hiding behind him, is on a very cold early morning, on New Year’s Day.

“I’m very sorry to have to ask you this,” his neighbor tells her, accent heavy and voice gruff. “There was a problem at the police station and – I don’t want to leave him alone on a holiday”.

Hiroko smiles softly at him. She has only spoken to Yakov a few times, but she knows his situation, having to raise his nephew by himself. Everyone in the neighborhood knows. She has seen Victor’s mom come visit every now and then, beautiful and frail, her silvery locks matching her son’s.

“It’s no problem at all,” Hiroko says, because it isn’t, and Victor is looking at her with a mortified expression on his elfin face, and God knows this boy spends way too much time at home by himself. “Victor is welcome to stay with us for as long as you need,” she adds. “In fact, I was just about to make breakfast for Toshiya and my kids. Would you like to come in and help me, Victor?”

Victor nods, a small, careful smile appearing on his face and carving dimples into his pale cheeks. Yakov thanks Hiroko again, leaves her his emergency contact and then he is gone, rushing away after patting Victor once on the head and telling him to behave. Hiroko smiles at the boy and leads him in, taking his snowy coat from him and giving him a pair of spare, fuzzy slippers to wear.

“Everyone else is sleeping in today,  but they’ll be happy to know we have a guest for New Year’s Day! What do you think of pancakes for breakfast?” she asks him as they walk into the kitchen. Victor looks around for a moment, looking a bit lost, and then carefully sits on one of the stools by the big isle in the middle of the room. Despite his legs being too long and skinny, he has a natural, effortless grace about him.

“I love pancakes, but my uncle always makes me have fruit and oatmeal,” Victor says, making a face.

“Well, he doesn’t have to know, then,” Hiroko says, with a wink, as she takes out a bowl and the ingredients for mixing.

“Do you want to help me measure the ingredients?”

“Sure! I might not be very good, though. I’ve never really done this before.”

“There’s a first time for everything! And who knows, maybe if you learn you will be able to make these for your uncle,” Hiroko says as she hands him the chocolate chips and the recipe. “Yuuri loves chocolate,” she explains with a smile. “Have you two met before?”

“Oh, yes! He let me pet Vicchan a couple of times when they walked near my house. I love dogs, but my uncle says I can’t have one until I turn fifteen – and that’s not gonna be for another three years, which is so annoying,” Victor tells her with a dramatic pout. Hiroko tries very hard not to laugh.

“I’m sure Yuuri will be more than happy to let you walk Vicchan with him after breakfast.”

“That would be great!”

“So you’re turning fourteen this year?”

“Yeah, I’ve just turned thirteen last week. My birthday is actually on Christmas day.”

“Really? I think you should get a double wish for that,” Hiroko whispers, conspiratorially.

Victor laughs, his mouth heart-shaped, and starts mixing the ingredients when Hiroko gives him the spatula. A few minutes later, Mari comes down the stairs, wearing a black hoodie and black leggings, still very much in her pseudo-goth phase. Hiroko silently hopes that turning sixteen will allow Mari to reintroduce some form of color to her wardrobe.

When she sees Victor, Mari stops for a moment. Hiroko doesn’t miss the way Victor’s shoulders tense and his body goes rigid while he awaits the reaction.

After a couple of confused blinks, she grins.

“You’re Victor Nikiforov, yes? Our neighbor?”

Victor nods, nervously playing with the tip of his high ponytail.

Mari turns around and starts running up the stairs “I’m gonna go wake up Yuuri mom! Tell him we have a _special guest_!”

Hiroko rolls her eyes. Yuuri’s puppy crush on Victor, despite her son being incredibly shy and reserved, is painfully obvious to everyone in the family. Yuuri might not speak much, but his expressions do, and Hiroko hasn’t missed the way his eyes grow brighter when he speaks about Victor, or how his cheeks tint red when he spots the boy from the living-room window. She hopes Mari doesn’t plan on embarrassing him in front of Victor, but she has her doubts. At least, she thinks as Vicchan comes running down the stairs, followed by a very sleepy Yuuri, she can rely on Victor’s kindness.

“Vicchan wait! What’s gotten into y – “

When Yuuri sees Victor, who’s currently sitting on the floor being showered in sloppy dog kisses by the tiny poodle, he freezes on the doorway.

“Yuuri-kun, Victor is going to be our guest today,” Hiroko tells him, to try and shake him out of his daze.

“Hi Yuuri! Your mom was teaching me how to make pancakes with chocolate chips, I hear they’re your favorites,” Victor says from the floor, smile bright.

Yuuri nods silently, his round cheeks bright red and eyes full of a strange mix between adoration and terror.

“They. Uh. Y-yeah, they are. My favorites, I mean. They’re my favorite pancakes. The ones with, uh. With the chocolate chips.”

Mari cackles behind him, and Yuuri, tiny as he is, gives her a look of pure indignation so convincing that it actually makes her stop. Victor doesn’t notice, too busy cooing at Vicchan in Russian.

“Go call your Otoosan, Yuuri. Breakfast will be ready in a minute,” Hiroko tells him, with the intention of giving Yuuri a moment to calm down. After one last enchanted look directed at Victor, Yuuri nods and runs towards the stairs.

“Mari-chan,” Hiroko calls her. She doesn’t need to add anything else, her look a clear enough warning. Mari helps her set the table and shows Victor where to sit. When Toshiya shows up, greeting Victor warmly after just one second of perplexity, the boy offers a tentative smile.

“Victor! I heard a lot about you from Yuuri!” Toshiya starts, blessfully unaware of their son going beet red once again and attempting to hide behind the juice carton.

“Oh, really? Yuuri lets me pet Vicchan sometimes,” Victor says, smiling brightly. “He even showed me how to get Vicchan to high-five me, and it’s so cool!”

Yuuri tries and fails to hide an embarrassed but equally luminous smile. In that moment, Hiroko grows forever fond of Victor Nikiforov, silently adopting him as one of her own. Huh. And wouldn’t it be curious. Wouldn’t it be _lovely_ , if one day, maybe…

She shakes her head, laughing silently at herself.

“Oh, I’m sure Yuuri would _love_ to show you all the other tricks he taught Vicchan. Right, Yuuri?” Mari chirps in, smiling innocently.

Hiroko can see Yuuri gather his courage, before he raises his head, chubby cheeks rosy and glasses sliding off his button nose, and looks Victor in the eye.

“Uh, yeah, I would – I mean if you’d like, some of my classmates say it’s boring, and – but, if… I mean if you would like it, I could – I…”

His soft voice gets quieter and quieter as he speak, the tips of his ears coloring under Victor’s brilliant blue eyes looking at him attentively.

Victor smiles, sweetly. Sincerely.

“I would love it if you showed me, Yuuri.”

Yes, Hiroko thinks. He definitely knows of Yuuri’s admiration for him - and it looks like he’s going to treasure it.

That morning, after they’ve finished breakfast and Hiroko has made Victor blush complimenting his pancakes, Yuuri and Victor go play with Vicchan in the living room, the snow outside making it too cold for them to go outside.

Hiroko leaves them be, checking in on them every now and then.

When it’s almost time for lunch, she hears it.

Yuuri’s laughing. Loud, louder than she’s heard in a long time. Unrestrained. With a snort and hiccups in between.

“ _Yuuuuuuri!_ ” Victor wails, and it sounds like he’s on the verge of laughter, too. “I was being serious! I’m wounded forever!”

And wouldn’t it be curious, Hiroko thinks, as she sneaks a glance and finds both the boys sprawled on the floor laughing, Vicchan wiggling his tail happily between them. Wouldn’t it be _lovely_ , if one day, maybe…

***

“Okaasan! We’re here!”

Hiroko all but drops the spatula that she’s using to mix the pancake batter and runs to the living room.

Sure enough, here they are.

Yuuri smiles at her, black hair disheveled and nose and ears red from the cold. She can’t believe how beautiful her son has become. She can’t believe her son is _twenty-three,_ and a veterinarian.

“Hiroko, are you making pancakes? Can I help flip them?”

Twenty-three, and a veterinarian, and _engaged_ to his best friend. For a moment, Hiroko had feared the two would never be able to make it out of the pining phase – and oh, had they pined.

She can still remember the evening that Yuuri had called her, voice shaking from happiness and emotion, and whispered to her that Victor liked him and had asked him to go on a real date together. She had tried not to act too smug about it.

“You’re just in time for that, Victor. Let me hug you first though – have you grown? You seem even taller than before, and certainly even more handsome!”

“ _Okaasan!_ ” Yuuri squeaks, but he’s smiling as Victor envelops Hiroko in a hug.

Soon enough, she’s in the kitchen with her soon to be son-in-law, who’s telling her about the proposal and giving her all the details that Yuuri was too embarrassed to share.

The last pancake is cooking when Victor timidly grabs her hands.

She recognizes this look, the vulnerability in his blue eyes that used to be so prominent when she first met him.

“Hiroko, there’s something I wanted to give you,” he starts, voice shaking with emotion. Hiroko feels her eyes fill with tears already. “When Yuuri and I went to Saint Petersburg to meet my _babushka_ she gave me her family’s recipe for _syrniki._ They are Russian pancakes I guess. Well, I...”

Victor takes out a piece of paper, neatly folded.

“I translated it, and… you’ve treated me as family since the first day I came here. Even if I wasn’t marrying Yuuri, you’d still be family to me. I wanted you to know that.”

“Oh, Victor… thank you. You’ve always been part of the Katsuki, and I’m glad you’re the man Yuuri loves. I’m so happy you’re the man who will love Yuuri for the rest of his life. I’m so proud of you, Victor.”

When Yuuri walks into the kitchen, alerted by the smell of burning food, he finds the two of them crying and laughing together on the floor.

And isn’t it curious. Isn’t it _lovely_ that tomorrow Victor is going to officially become a Katsuki?

Hiroko had seen it coming miles away.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you've enjoyed this! It came out of nowhere and demanded to be written. I really love Hiroko+Victor interactions :)
> 
> If you've enjoyed it, come and say hi on tumblr at byebyeholocene!


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